UNITED NATIONS, Nov 28 : UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres has issued yet another impassioned call for ambitious climate action after a trip to Antarctica, the frozen continent, amid preparations for the U.N. Climate Change Conference in Dubai later this week. \u201cI have just returned from Antarctica\u2014the sleeping giant. A giant being awoken by climate chaos. Together, Antarctica and Greenland are melting well over three times faster than they were in the early 1990s,\u201d he told reporters at UN Headquarters in New York.<\/p>\n
The UN chief said he saw for himself over the weekend the \u201cprofoundly shocking\u201d speed at which ice is melting in Antarctica \u2014 at the South Pole ice is now 1.5 million square kilometres below average for this time of year; that\u2019s equal to the combined surface area of Portugal, Spain, France and Germany combined. \u201cWhat happens in Antarctica doesn\u2019t stay in Antarctica\u201d, Guterres said. \u201cWe live in an interconnected world. Melting sea ice means rising seas. And that directly endangers lives and livelihoods in coastal communities across the globe.\u201d He noted that it\u2019s not just the impact of floods and saltwater on food and water supplies at stake, but the viability of small islands and entire cities on coasts across the world. \u201cThe movement of waters around Antarctica distributes heat, nutrients and carbon around the world, helping to regulate our climate and regional weather patterns\u201d, he told correspondents outside the Security Council. \u201cBut that system is slowing as the southern Ocean grows warmer and less dense. Further slowdown \u2013 or entire breakdown \u2013 would spell catastrophe.\u201d With no let-up in fossil fuel extraction \u201cwe\u2019re heading towards a calamitous three-degree Celsius temperature rise by the end of the century\u201d, he warned. \u201cIf we continue as we are, and I strongly hope we will not, the Greenland and West Antarctica ice sheets will cross a deadly tipping point.\u201d This represents an astonishing rise of around 10 metres. The vicious cycle means accelerated heating as ice diminishes and more extreme weather, it was pointed out. At COP28 in Dubai, which starts later this week, \u201cleaders must break this cycle\u201d, the UN chief declared. \u201cThe solutions are well known. Leaders must act to limit global temperature rise to 1.5 degrees Celsius, protect people from climate chaos, and end the fossil fuel age.\u201d Only a global pact to triple renewable energy use, a doubling in energy efficiency and access to clean power for all by 2030, will be sufficient, he argued. \u201cAntarctica is crying out for action\u201d, the Secretary-General added. \u201cI salute the thousands of researchers \u2013 in Antarctica and around the world \u2013 expanding our understanding of the changes taking place on the continent. \u201cThey are a testament to human ingenuity and the immense benefits of international collaboration. Leaders must not let the hopes of people around the world for a sustainable planet melt away.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
UNITED NATIONS, Nov 28 : UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres has issued yet another impassioned call for ambitious climate action after a trip to Antarctica, the frozen continent, amid preparations for the U.N. Climate Change Conference in Dubai later this week. \u201cI have just returned from Antarctica\u2014the sleeping giant. A giant being awoken by climate chaos. […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":341456,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-370864","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-world"],"yoast_head":"\n